Wednesday, 27 August 2014

We have just added a brand new collection of felt square packs to the shop. Called 'The Felt Sevens', each pack contains 7 sheets of felt in 7 colours. They are available in 6", 9" and 12" squares and the very popular 9" x 4.5" size.

Thursday, 31 July 2014

Have you ever wanted to make felt bird bunting but not known where to start? The Felt Fairy can help! This tutorial has been written for us by Perdita, of Perdita's Personalised Bunting. Pop over to her Facebook page and take a look at more of the beautiful bunting she makes.
This bunting is very simple to make, you don't need to be experienced with a needle and thread, and you can use up all sorts of scraps of felt and beads, buttons or sequins you have lying around.
This will produce a 1.5m length of bunting.

Ingredients:

Felt - I started with a pack of multi-coloured 4 inch squares and then rootled through my scrap box for the smaller bits and pieces.
Threads - I always sew with embroidery silks - two threads at a time (makes one skien go SO much further!), but you could use cotton or thin wool as well.
Sequins - Coloured sequins to match the colour felts and black sequins.
Beads - You will need coloured seed beads, black seed beads and brown bugle beads.
Buttons - A selection of coloured buttons about the size of a 10p
Wadding - Little scraps of thin wadding, or kapok style toy stuffing.
Ribbon - 1.5m length of plain ribbon or bias binding.

How to:
Draw a basic bird shape - the simpler the better, draw a wing shape that fits nicely within the birds body.
Start to cut out your felt birds - for each bird you will need two bird body shapes and one wing.
I chose to cut the wings in a shade lighter or darker than the bird's body - but you could use contrasting colours, or even white birds with coloured wings. Play with the colours until you have cut out enough pieces for 14 birds.

Lay out your birds to decide which way you want them all to face.
Decide on the decorations for each bird - I used sequins (3 per wing) or coloured seed beads.
Tack the wing into place and stitch onto the top side of each bird - any stitch looks good - you could try running, blanket or back.
Sew your wing decoration in place.

Next - give your bird an eye. Place a black sequin on top of the bird body where you want the eye to be, place a little scrap of felt underneath the bird body (directly underneath the sequin). Push your needle through the scrap of felt, through the body and our through the hole in the sequin, place a little black seed bead on your needle and pull it flush with the sequin. Push the needle back through the sequin and tie off tightly. The little scrap of felt allows you to secure the eye safely without puckering your bird's body.

Next, cut a little scrap of wadding to puff out your bird's body. Place the wadding between the top side of the bird (with the wing and eye) and the plain back body.

Tack this together roughly. Starting halfway down the bird's chest stitch around the body - again using a stitch with which you are comfortable, I use a blanket stitch but running stitch would do just as well.
When you reach the birds head take two brown bugle beads. When you have reached the beaks position simply thread the two bugle beads onto your needle and wiggle them down until they touch the felt - they will automatically create a beak shape - if you carry on sewing your beaded beak will stay tight and in place.

Carry on around the body until you have stitched all the way round the bird.
Then - repeat the above until you have 14 birds!

When you have 14 birds, lay out your length of ribbon or bias binding. Lay out your birds along the ribbon until you are happy with the pattern, I put a co-ordinating colour button between each bird.

Gently tack the birds into place.

Starting at one end, turn the end of the ribbon under itself and secure, make a loop and stitch in place. Sew the first button with coloured silk, then a bird (I used clear acrylic thread to hide the stitches on the back of the ribbon) making sure not to pierce through to the front of the bird, then a button etc, etc until all your birds are stitched in place. Turn the end of the ribbon under itself and secure, make a loop and stitch in place.

Hang up your bunting and feel very proud of your new creation!
Thank you Perdita, for a fab tutorial!Please don't forget to take a look at her Facebook page - click here!

If you fancy making felt bird bunting you can find most of the things you will need at thefeltfairy.com

Monday, 28 July 2014

We've been working hard over the last few weeks to make our website bigger, brighter and better! And this is the result ... hope you like it! To celebrate the new look we have a great special offer running to the end of August - read on to find out more.
First of all though, would you like to know what's new? Of course you would!
As well as all the usual Felt Fairy felt squares and packs, we can now cut your felt for you into a great range of shapes ... here are just a few, click on the pic to see more :)

We are now stocking felt balls in individual colours - 20 great shades in total ...

There are many more fab things about this website, and we'll be blogging about all the great features over the coming weeks. There will also be a cute little tutorial coming up soon to keep you busy!
Now back to that special offer ... would you like 10% off? You would?! In that case all you need to do is place an order on our new website before the end of August and you will get 10% off your next order. Simple!